“Hurry back,” he said. His voice had taken on that slightly hoarse edge that meant arousal and approval. It wouldn’t be long before he took matters into his own hands, finding us a quiet moment, a private space, an intimate touch.
I climbed the steps, glancing at the darkened window. The THAI MASSAGE sign was off, the waiting room empty and eerily silent.
Jade wore her customary loose-fitting clothes that seemed to hang on her rail-thin frame more than ever. I sat down in the chair while she got me a small glass of flat soda. Rituals were important.
Sitting across from me, she stared sightlessly at the calendar on the wall. It had a picture of a laughing family and a logo of some home insurance agent on the corner.
“I must thank you for telling me about the raid. I don’t know why you did.”
I had warned her beforehand. Most of the brothels in the area had been raided, but her house had been empty. Luke told me about the raids in advance, with a look that said he knew that I’d pass the information along. It had been a compulsion, one I would probably always have to some degree.
“I don’t know why either,” I admitted. But now that I had done it, I wasn’t above taking full advantage. “Maybe now you’ll tell me. Tell me the truth about Claire. I know you can.”
“Yes. You deserve to know, after all this.”
It took her several minutes to begin. I wondered if she had ever told this to anyone before and guessed that she hadn’t. She wasn’t the type to unburden herself to others. How lonely it was in that place of secrets and smoke. No one could hurt her there; no one could help.
“We have more in common than you think, you and I,” she said. “When I was a girl, my parents sold me to Henri. I had six brothers and sisters. I sacrificed for them, like you sacrifice for your friend.”
It didn’t surprise me that she had got her start as a prostitute, working her way up to madam. It didn’t even surprise me that she had been with Henri. It explained why she had so much hatred for him…while at the same time she couldn’t help but obey him. He had that effect on people, and years of that abuse would make anyone a little crazy.
There was one big difference between us, though. She had forced other girls to whore themselves. I had been faced with the same choice once, and I had chosen to protect Claire instead. The thought didn’t fill me with triumph or superiority, because I remembered how hard it had been. I knew well the trouble it had caused me to protect Claire instead of use her.
I spoke quietly, respect still lingering despite everything. “Somewhere along the way, it changed. You stopped sacrificing and started forcing others to sacrifice for you.”
“Yes. I did that. They need to sacrifice for me when I give so much. One day, you will do same thing.”
No, I wouldn’t, but she wouldn’t believe me. “Tell me why you really called me.”
“I lived with Henri for years. I was his girl.” Her lips pinched together. “You know what that is like.”
I knew. The scars I bore from those experiences weren’t on my skin. Much deeper, in the darkness of my soul. I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone. “I’m sorry.”
“Then I got pregnant.”
A small gasp escaped me. Henri had always used protection with me. He was actually a stickler for it. Other pimps would push their girls to go bareback because it brought in so much more money, but not him.
“He actually wanted the child,” Jade said. “I wanted to get an abortion, but he wouldn’t let me. I ran away, but by then it was too late. I tried everything to get it out of me. I almost died trying, but someone found me and brought me to a hospital. They kept me there until the baby was born, and finally I could get rid of it.”
My eyebrows rose. She killed it?
“Adoption,” she said. “Then I started my own brothel. I knew how to run it from being with Henri. For years, we were like that. I knew better than to poach from him, and he left me alone. But I knew he always looked for the girl. He felt that I stole her from him.”
“Claire,” I breathed.
“She did it herself,” Jade said accusingly. “I gave her good family. Normal family. If she had stayed there like she should, he would never have found her. How could he? But she came to his place of business, getting a fake ID. Then going to his club. How could he ignore that?”
“He couldn’t,” I said, just stating a fact. He wouldn’t have.
“I didn’t want her. She was Henri’s child. I know you think I’m a monster now after helping him, for what I did, but at least I kept her from him.”
And it was the only reason Ella was still alive and relatively sane today. A child under Henri’s control? Jesus. No one knew better than I the cruelty that could pass from father to daughter. Pimping her out had been the kindest thing he could do.